WGHS Students Jam Out to What THEY like

Image courtesy of YZY and Gamma

Image courtesy of Hasbro

Music is everywhere; with stigma always following, everyone has an artist they call a “guilty pleasure artist,” one that may—or may not—have a good reputation.
by Layla Joy Parson and Noah Summers

Sable Harris, 12th grade, has had a lot of time to see the world of music, and she landed on Devon Hendryx to be her favorite artist. She fancies his style and discovered him after learning about JPEGMAFIA, which is who he is known as nowadays. And to get in the mood to listen to Devon Hendryx, she “had to be more calm; a rainy day kind of vibe.” But she also has an indulgence, like anyone, a rather ugly apple in the modern eye: The Living Tombstone. “I still be listening to The Living Tombstone daily.” She found The Living Tombstone pre-2020s from their fan music about “FNAF, Baldi's Basics, you know, all that good stuff,” and never stopped listening. And for her mood, she’d have to be hyper. “I be jamming out in my car.” For The Living Tombstone, she is not afraid to keep listening: “I feel like a lot of people loved The Living Tombstone in 2016 to 2019, and then it became kind of a meme. Like everyone thought it was embarrassing, but I still listen to it on the daily, so it's fair.” In her opinion, stigma-wise, The Living Tombstone’s audience is “people who don’t shower.” She thinks of Wilbur Soot as a secondary guilty-pleasure artist whom she also appreciates very highly.

Chase Hann, 9th grade, is young but knows what he likes. His favorite artist is Michael Jackson—a classic artist whose music has elevated many. Although Chase Hann is only a freshman, his ideas carry a bold passion that many other freshmen don’t have with them quite yet. His guilty pleasure artist is Kanye West. He is what Chase sees as controversial.

Ethan Summers, 10th grade, loves to listen to Pearl Jam and Jack Johnson. “I heard about Jack Johnson from Curious George. Pearl Jam? Probably TikTok, I don’t know.” Now, guilty-wise? “My Little Pony. Anything sung in My Little Pony. I like the regular show songs, but I haven't watched the Equestria Girls movies.” He knows that “people think it's weird. People think it's like a little girl show. So for bronies, it's kind of tough.” But that doesn’t stop him from listening to it. He believes people perceive the show’s music as quite “laughable,” especially for men.

WGHS is complete with a diverse group of people plus a diverse taste profile, and yet here they are to connect with their indulgences, because diversity and disagreement do not always mean division and enmity.